Free Gifted: A Holiday Anthology by Kelley Armstrong Page B

wouldn’t be nearly so proud of him. He’s a psycho. You know that, right?”
    “He is whatever he needs to be to keep us safe. Now get—”
    “No, really. He’s crazy. You obviously don’t know what he did, so let me give you a little present, kid. An early Christmas gift.”
    “Not interested.”
    The mutt smirked. “Oh, but I am. Let me tell you what your daddy did. Him and his buddy, Nick, they found two wolves here, come to issue a challenge. Your daddy was younger than me, and he took those wolves—”
    A crash sounded in the undergrowth, and a figure barreled out so fast both Logan and the mutt fell back. Before the mutt could recover, Dad had him by the shirtfront. He threw him onto the road and planted a foot on his stomach.
    “Logan?” he said. “Get back to the house.”
    “I—”
    Dad’s look stopped the words in his throat. It was the look mutts must get when they crossed him. A look his son never expected to see, and Logan took a slow step back.
    “To. The. House.” He caught Logan’s gaze. “Now.”
    Logan tried. He really tried. This was an order from his father and the Beta, but it wasn’t the same as an order from the Alpha, and all Logan could think was that there might be other mutts, and he really should stay by his father. Watch out for him.
    “Logan . . .”
    The mutt slammed his fist into the back of Dad’s knee, and it caught his father off guard. His leg buckled. Logan shot forward, ready to throw himself at the mutt if his dad went down. He didn’t. He just stumbled, and swung around and grabbed for the mutt, but Logan was already diving at him, and when Dad swung around, his fist caught Logan in the shoulder and sent him crashing into the snowbank.
    That did distract Dad for real, and he twisted toward Logan as the mutt leapt up. Logan opened his mouth to shout a warning, but Dad backhanded the mutt down again, and Logan scrambled up as fast as he could, saying, “I’m okay. I’m okay,” even as pain stabbed through his shoulder. Dad spun back on the mutt, who was staying on the ground now, his hands raised.
    “I’m sorry,” the mutt said. “I’m really, really, really sorry.”
    “Not yet you aren’t,” Dad said, taking a step toward him, his fists clenched.
    The mutt stayed down. Stayed submissive. His gaze was fixed on Dad’s chest, not rising even to his face.
    “It was stupid, really stupid,” the kid said. “They dared me—my cousins—and I don’t have a rep, because I lost my first two challenges, and I thought this would help. All I had to do was get a photo of the house to prove I was here. I wasn’t even going to go on the property. Well, not far, because you can’t see the house from the road. I tried. But I was going to walk as far on this road as I could, and only go—”
    “How old are you?”
    “N-nineteen.”
    “Fuck. Name?”
    “Davis. I mean, Cain. Davis Cain.”
    “Of course. A Cain. Do you guys share a single brain among you?” He lifted his hands. “Don't even answer that. Did you set foot on the property?”
    “N-no. No, sir, I mean.”
    Dad winced a little at that, as if the “sir” took it too far, was too submissive, didn’t portend well for the kid’s future as a werewolf.
    “I’m going to check that,” Dad said. “In the meantime, you will get into your car, wherever it is, and you will start heading home. You will not stop, even to take a piss, until you are past the state borders.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “And you will tell your cousins that you got as far as Bear Valley and turned around, because you realized just how stupid an idea this was, that you weren’t just risking your own life, but, because you’re a kid, I’d hold your family responsible for not teaching you better.”
    “R-right.”
    “You decided to go home and start training instead of taking on challenges already. Train until you’re ready to beat someone. And maybe, if you can manage it, hit the books and get a little smarter, too, because